Brexit Talks Blocked: May's Speech Pre-Empted By EU Official

UK and EU negotiating teams cannot agree over which side should make the next move to unblock Brexit talks, despite the looming deadline for a so-called 'divorce deal'.

Prime Minister Theresa May was to make clear in a speech to be delivered to parliament that she hoped her EU partners would table agreeable proposals at a new round of talks opening the way to the next stage of negotiations, saying “the ball is in their court”.

But an EU spokesman in Brussels launched a pre-emptive strike saying “the ball is entirely in the UK court for the rest to happen”.

May is currently struggling to regain at least some of her authority after a Chaplinesque speech at the Conservative Party conference last week, marred by a repetitive cough, a prankster, and a campaign slogan that fell of the wall has left her looking weaker than ever.

She is still struggling following an ill-judged election when she lost her government majority in the Commons, and her failings have opened the door for many in her party to challenge her Brexit strategy with just 18 months to go before Britain leaves the EU.

With Brussels quietly preparing for a collapse in the talks and talking behind the scenes with Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Party, Britain is getting ready for what May calls “all eventualities” crash out of the EU without a deal.

There is a clear sequencing to these talks and there has been so far no solution found on step one, which is the divorce proceedings... So the ball is entirely in the UK court for the rest to happen.